The Eugene-based timber company bid on the forestland to deliberately challenge environmental groups that warned they would sue.

Kathy Jones, Seneca Jones’ co-owner, said her company didn’t bid on the land because her mill needs lumber but because she and her two sisters refused to be bullied by “eco-radical” environmental groups and believed no other timber companies made an offer.

In one letter, Cascadia Forest Defenders, an environmental group whose activists rappelled off the state Capitol in a September protest about the Elliott, warned timber companies:

“We will not respect new property lines, signs and gates. We will not respect a company that further degrades the integrity of Oregon’s fragmented coast. Do not bid on these sales. If you become the owner of the Elliott, you will have activists up your trees and lawsuits on your desk. We will be at your office and in your mills.”

Jones said her company would not be intimidated by what she called “cowardly” threats.